Monday, 25 January 2016

God Be With You Till We Meet Again

So this week was the most incredible week! It was topped off with the most amazing weekend of my mission! #letsgoooooo

Okay so this week I had my last exchanges with the STL's. It was great! I always love exchanges. I learn so much :)

Last STL exchanges!

We had a Worldwide Mission Broadcast on Wednesday so all the missionaries in the world watched that. We received some great training from some of the apostles. We learned from Elder Bednar about the importance of teaching with the spirit. The spirit is the teacher..not us! So I learned a lot, and I was grateful that we had the opportunity to put that into practice after the broadcast.

We went to see our investigators Melissa and Richard. They're a married couple with a 2 year old daughter and another baby on the way. Richard is from England and Melissa is from New York. They're such a sweet couple! We had an awesome member with us who was just perfect for them. They really opened up because we had her with us and we were able to address their questions and concerns. The great news is that they're reading the Book of Mormon and keeping their commitments. We're super excited about them!

District picture at my last district meeting!

On Thursday we had a car fast in the mission! Everyone in the mission had to go without cars for a day. We thought we'd be walking everywhere all day, and we were willing to do that, but the members of the ward had other ideas. They all stepped up to help us out and we were able to get around to all of our appointments and have members with us! It was awesome! The Marlborough ward is amazing! The members are so sweet.

On Friday we had a visit from Brother Caputo and Lee from Greenfield. They're experts at Family History so they came to help us out so that we can help our investigators to get into Family History! It was awesome! We learned a lot! I'm so excited about Family History now!

Our visit from Lee and Brother Caputo!

Oh man I love these people!

On Saturday we had a big snowstorm!! Our whole Zone got red dotted and had to go home early! It was kinda crazy, but it's always exciting!

Okay so Sunday...here we go. So I never told any of you this, but for weeks we had been planning to go to a baptism in Greenfield on January 24th. It was the baptism of Porter Wells, an investigator that Sister Haws and I found way back last February or March. He was a Media referral. He requested a Book of Mormon, and as soon as we met him he started taking the lessons. I taught him with Sister Saito also, and then the Sisters continued to teach him after I left. In my last lesson with him, last May, we invited him to be baptized and he said "no not yet", but I promised him I'd be there when he did get baptized. Well, it was his baptism yesterday and we got permission from the AP's to go. We got members from the ward to bring us, and everything was all set to go!

Then yesterday morning, the members who were going to bring us called us and told us that the snow storm had affected their heating system and it stopped working, so they had to stay home and take care of that. We were devastated! We got a call from our Ward Mission Leader after that and he told us that there might be another family who'd be willing to bring us, so we got their number and called them...no answer. We called another family...no answer. We decided to kneel and pray together and ask Heavenly Father to help us to find someone to bring us so we could be there for Porter on his special day. So after we prayed we called EVERYONE! Some people didn't answer and then others just weren't able to bring us. We were beginning to lose hope, and we were stressing out. Then we called a potential investigator and asked if she'd like to come with us..and bring us! She said 'maybe!' She said she'd call us back! At this stage we had to get to church. So we went and had a wonderful sacrament meeting. I got to bear my testimony here for the last time and I was so grateful to be able to stand and tell the people of the Marlborough ward how much I love my Savior and how much I have loved serving Him these past 18 months.

After that, it was time for us to leave. If we were going to get to Greenfield on time for the baptism we would have to leave right then. We still didn't have anyone to bring us. Our potential investigator hadn't called us and we had pretty much given up hope! We drove out of the church parking lot and we were about to call the Sisters to tell them that we wouldn't be able to make it, but then we got a text from one of the members saying "Do you have a ride to the baptism? If not, we can take you!" IT WAS A MIRACLE! We didn't even call them! We didn't even tell them that we needed to get to a baptism in Greenfield! But they were the answer to all of our prayers!

We drove back to the church where they were waiting for us, we hopped in their car, and made our way to Greenfield! Going back to Greenfield was like going back home. We drove through Greenfield town and it was all so familiar to me. Especially because I was with Sister Saito. When we got to the chapel we walked in the doors and there was Porter. He saw us and his face lit up! He was like "Oh my goodness! You're here!" I promised him I'd be there. I wouldn't have missed that for the world! It was so amazing to see my Greenfield family again. I was so emotional. I cried most of the time I was there.

Porter with all the Sisters who taught him :)

Seeing Porter get baptised made all the stress of that morning worthwhile. After his baptism, all of the Sisters that taught him gave him a gift that we all pitched in for. We all contributed some money to buy him his own set of scriptures with his name engraved on them. When he opened it up he looked so happy! It was a perfect day. Heavenly Father answered our prayers and he made it the most incredible day ever. It was the best last Sunday I could ever ask for.

Porter when he got his scriptures!

I'm so grateful for my mission. I'm so grateful for all the converting experiences that I've been able to have here. I'm grateful for my testimony of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. I know my Saviour lives and that He loves every single one of us. I know we have a Father in Heaven who loves us and wants us to make the right decisions in our lives. I'm so grateful for the knowledge of the gospel that I have received as I have served my mission. I know that the Book of Mormon is true, and that it is a guide for our lives. I know that by living the gospel, and by living the teachings of Jesus Christ we can, and will be truly happy. I have felt that happiness. My mission means everything to me.

I love you all so much. I hope that you can all have, and feel the joy that the gospel brings. Live it and love it!